Category: Courses

Conflict is the incompatiblily of two opinions which could escalate resulting in a destructive and negative outcome. Conflict can arguably be present within every relationship between people and human interaction, therefore it’s important to be able to manage it and control it before it reaches an uncontrollable stage. From a healthcare perspective, conflict can arise between professionals and patients due to differing interests, but perhaps more relevant to this reflection, conflict can be present amongst colleagues. In a health setting this could be very damaging to the function of a team as communication and cooperation with these people, or groups of people could be broken down. Continue reading “CONFLICT RESOLUTION & MEDIATION SKILLS”→

So, the Medicine Residential finished yesterday, but yet, I still stayed for today. The reason was actually because one of my friends who was on the corresponding Law Residential had to complete the 7th day as part of her residential. Sadly, she’s severely visually impaired and has recently been recently declared to be legally blind, therefore I decided to stay an extra day with her so we could both take the train back home together.

Today was the last day of the Medicine residential so it involved polishing off our research and presentations ready to actually deliver them. Our group research concluded that E-cigarettes where not necessarily without harm as may have been assumed and should not definitely be used lightly. Our main concern was the fact that they were becoming incredibly popular within the youth who were just using them for recreational purposes. The final outcome of our project that was in agreement with all of our group members was that if e-cigarettes were made to go through the rigorous trials that other drugs on the market are made to go through, they could be used to help tobacco smokers give up smoking as tobacco cigarettes were definitely proven to be even more harmful. A statistic which we all found rather surprising and ironic which would oppose this suggestion was the fact that 27% of current smokers when asked refused to use e-cigarettes as they thought of them as unsafe!

Today’s day was organised for us to spend our day at UCL where we first were placed in a carousel with one session involving medical students teaching us how to take blood pressure, followed by BLS and then the tour of the campus.Continue reading “DAY 5 – VISITING UCL”→

Today we went from Queen Mary to Imperial where we spent the day. The first activity planned for us was two medical taster sessions which would allow us to understand and appreciate what sitting in a lecture as a medical student may feel like. The first session was based on the lungs and airways. I was really drawn in, learning about the dichotomous branching of the trachea as well as the metachronal rhythm by which the fields of cilia move sequentially in order to sweep mucus out of the airway. I was most intrigued by the nerve control of the airway. I think it’s amazing the way all the different systems and mechanisms of the body are able to work together to keep everything functioning as it should be…it’s rather incredible! If a foreign object enters the lungs and is recognised by the sensory neurone, it’ll send a message to the brain stem which will send a message to constrict the airways and prevent the foreign object from entering.

This morning we were placed in a PBL workshop which was organised by medical students from UCL and Barts Medical School. We had to identify some of the key problems with patient and respect them in our groups before arriving at a diagnosis and then presenting our ideas to the rest of the group. I was already quite familiar with the PBL style of learning by this stage as I had previously taken part in one as well as having had sat in one with 5th year medical students. The students themselves thought it was a good way to learn providing lectures were provided alongside it in order to reinforce their learning. Continue reading “DAY 3 – SPEAKING TO MED STUDENTS”→

Today was an early start so we could get to the career carousel activity which was organised for us. This involved us meeting 16 different doctors, each working within different specialities and having taken different routes in their career. This was very helpful as it allowed us to understand the reality of Medicine as a career which can sometimes be overlooked or glazed over. In reality, being a doctor is hard work, is an immense pressure and involves a lot more paperwork and administration than most people would imagine. Many of the doctors we spoke to, such as the A&E consultant emphasised the need to be able to switch off and leave the problems encountered at work, in order to maintain your mental state. I personally believe this is very important, as if you are a doctor who continually over works yourself, you will ultimately stop being of help to your patients due to the spiral of tiredness and fatigue that you have placed yourself in. It was worthwhile hearing this from the doctors themselves! Continue reading “DAY 2 – GAINING AN INSIGHT INTO THE MEDICAL PROFESSION”→

Today was the first day of the Summer School and the day in which everybody arrived from different parts of the country. We were given our rooms and sat in an introductory lecture laying down the ‘dos and don’ts’ if the programme. I managed to also get to know a couple of people as we were introduced to our groups and had to take part in a few ice breakers. I was definitely amazed at the wide variety of different people, from all over the country whom were invited to take part in this scheme. We were given the early time which we would have to be awake for tomorrow and then allowed to return to our rooms. We also had our retract projects introduced to us which we would be expected to work on in our teams and later present to the rest of the group. Our question was: Are e-cigarettes harmful for the lungs?

I feel as though I’m going to throughly enjoy this residential programme and hopefully learn an invaluable amount.

This taster day consisted of four workshops: Basic Life Support, Measuring Blood Pressure, Ethical Situations and Patient Consultations alongside a lecture at the end. I really enjoyed the sessions, but the most important factor of the day was me being able to see my own personal progress. I have been attending medical related sessions ever since I first started considering it as a career prospect when I was Year 10 and 11. I do find these events very helpful as they do allow a true insight into life as a medical student as well as life as a doctor. When I first attended these events I remember being a little bewildered and overwhelmed by the medical terminology and principles we were expected to be familiar with as prospective medical students. I have to admit, I did feel I little bit of despair and I wondered how I would possibly learn these things that I heard other students talking about before actually being taught. Continue reading “MEDICINE TASTER DAY”→

I found this lecture very interesting as I have never thought about blood in so much detail ever before. I think it is quite remarkable that each component on the blood has its own properties are they are also all able to cause many different health problems if they aren’t functioning correctly. Diseases linked with the red cells include Anaemia and Sickle Cell Disease. White cells are linked with problems such as Leukaemia, Lymphoma and Aplastic Anaemia. Two diseases involving platelets are ITP in which the body destroys the platelets and Bernard Soulier which is a rare and inherited condition. Continue reading “MEDLINK – Day 5”→